Bush, Schroeder discuss Iran

Jun 27, 2005, 16:30 GMT

US President George W. Bush (R) shakes hands with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder after a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House. (EPA/SHAWN THEW)

The election of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has raised concerns about moving forward and how it will affect negotiations with Iran by Britain, France and Germany aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

The United States supports the negotiations but was not directly involved.

The outcome of the election has raised concerns in both Washington and European capitals including Berlin that the likelihood has diminished for a resolution to the long-running concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Iran did agree to suspend uranium enrichment last year, an important process for building atomic weapons, but the negotiations have since not produced any significant breakthroughs.

Bush and Schroeder were also to discuss Iraq and Afghanistan, and Schroeder was expected to push for U.S. support for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council for Germany. The United States supports Japan's bid and a permanent for another, unidentified country.

Germany wants six new permanent members on the 15-nation council and four new rotating members. India and Brazil are among the two other candidates for a permanent seat.

Schroeder's visit comes less than three months before Germans go to the polls in national elections the chancellor called a year earlier than planned after his Social Democrats suffered a series of crushing defeats in state elections.

The Christian Democratic Party led by Angela Merkel is heavily favoured to unseat Schroeder, a change observers in Washington believe would be welcomed by the Bush administration.

The relationship between Bush and Schroeder as well as between the two countries was badly soured by differences over the Iraq war and Schroeder's using the issue as the focus of his 2002 re-election campaign.

But the two leaders have taken strides to put the past aside and focus on area of cooperation, such as the negotiations with Iran.